Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
70. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation when she plans to bring forward legislation to tackle the problem of ticket touting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50484/18]
View answerAt its meeting on 24th July 2018, the Government decided on a package of legislative measures dealing with the resale of tickets for entertainment and sporting events. In order to implement these measures, the Government agreed that it would support and amend the Prohibition of Above Cost Ticket Touting Bill introduced in January 2017 by Deputy Noel Rock and Deputy Stephen Donnelly and would take the second and subsequent stages of the Bill in Government time. The proposed legislation would ban the resale of tickets above their face value in designated venues with a capacity of 1,000 or over. The use of bot software to purchase tickets in excess of the number permitted by event organisers would also be prohibited. In addition, the legislation will give effect to the commitment given to UEFA to ban the unauthorised transfer and use of tickets for matches and official events taking place in Ireland during the EURO 2020 Championship.
While the Bill introduced by Deputies Rock and Donnelly was scheduled to have its second reading on 21 November, it did not prove possible to have the Second Stage debate on that date. I very much hope that the second reading of the Bill will proceed as soon as possible and look forward to hearing the contributions of Deputies to the debate on the Bill. My officials have meanwhile been working on a range of amendments and additions to the Private Members' Bill and expect to be in a position to submit these formally to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel later this month. When finalised, the Government amendments will then be tabled at the Bill's Committee or Report Stage.
